Hypermedia document authoring using a goals outline and a presentation outline

ABSTRACT

A hypermedia authoring system enables an author to generate a document using a goals outline and a presentation outline. The goals outline is generated by instantiating document prototypes. A display of the goals outline permits the author to select a prototype document from a directory of prototype documents and instantiate the selected prototype document that corresponds to a node of the goals outline. The instantiated document prototype is linked to cards in a card database. The presentation outline is displayed as Bento-boxes. Each Bento-box includes spacer objects which are defined spatially and temporally. The spacer objects may be linked to cards. The goals outline is related to the presentation outline based on commonly linked cards. The Bento-boxes may be linked to each other in a stack or hyperlinked to other Bento-boxes v a anchors. A display of all the Bento-boxes of a hypermedia document shows a linkage path established by the hyperlinks between Bento-boxes/Bento-box stacks. If both the presentation outline and the goals outline are displayed, selecting a Bento-box or a node of the goals outline causes related nodes or Bento-boxes, respectively, to be highlighted. If a complete goals/presentation outline is selected, the highlighting shows a measure of completeness between the presentation outline and the goals outline. A navigation facility is also provided such as a kitchen, an office or a studio.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a hypermedia authoring system.

2. Description of Related Art

Authoring systems are based on cognitive models for how writing takesplace. For example, University of North Carolina's Writing Environmentprovides four workspaces called the network mode, the tree mode, theeditor mode and the text mode. Smith, J. B., and Lansman, M., ACognitive Basis for a Computer Writing Environment, TR 87-032,Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at ChapelHill (June 1988). The Writing Environment is based on a cognitive modelthat reflects the need to organize resources before writing and tostructure outlines according to both logical and presentationalcriteria.

Other authoring systems that provide a variety of similar features aresummarized as follows: SEPIA is a hypermedia authoring system that hasfour workspaces: 1) content space, 2) rhetorical space, 3) planningspace, and 4) argumentation space. Streitz, N., et al., “SEPIA: ACooperative Hypermedia Authoring Environment”, In R. Rada (ed.),Groupware and Authoring, Academic Press, London 1996, pp. 241-264.Finally, CMIF provides: 1) a Hierarchy view to edit the hierarchy of ahypermedia document; and 2) a Channel view to specify synchronizationamong the components. Hardman, L., van Rossum, G., and Bulterman, D. C.A., “Structured Multimedia Authoring”, ACM Multimedia 93 Proceedings(August 1993), pp. 283-289.

However, none of the above authoring schemes support an explicitrepresentation of relationships between the logical and presentationalorganizations of the document being authored. In addition, currenttechniques do not provide sufficient support for navigating through theinformation represented by the workspaces.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a hypermedia authoring system that enables anauthor to generate a document using a goals outline and a presentationoutline and provides a technique to relate the goals and thepresentation outlines. The goals outline organizes the informationcontent of the document contained in cards in a logical structure whilethe presentation outline is directed to a physical appearance of thedocument.

The goals outline is generated by instantiating document prototypes thatcontain slots which indicate a type of information that is to beincluded in the document prototype. Each of the slot types may be linkedto the cards by links which may be mandatory, optional or user defined.A visual display of the goals outline permits the author to select aprototype document from a directory of prototype documents andinstantiate the selected prototype document that corresponds to a nodeof the goals outline.

Once instantiated, the hypermedia authoring system provides a displaythat permits the author to link each of the slot types of aninstantiated document prototype with cards in a card database. Cards mayalso be created from scratch by the author or imported from externalsources and linked with the instantiated document prototype.

The hypermedia authoring system also provides a display for creating apresentation outline in the form of Bento-boxes. Each Bento-box includesa layout workspace in which spacer objects may be placed. Spatial andtemporal parameters may also be specified corresponding to each spacerobject. The spacer objects may be linked to cards in the card databaseand an indication of a link relationship with the goals outline is alsoprovided. When a spacer object is linked to a card that is also linkedto a node in the goals outline, the Bento-box indicates such a goalsoutline relationship. Thus, while constructing a presentation outline,the author is also informed of the portions of the goals outline that isaddressed and vice versa.

The Bento-boxes may be linked to each other in a stack for a sequentialslide presentation, for example. In addition, the Bento-boxes may behyperlinked to other Bento-boxes where anchors for the hyperlink may bewithin any of the spacer objects. Thus, a display of all the Bento-boxesof a hypermedia document including the linkages among the Bento-boxeswould show a linkage path established by the hyperlinks betweenBento-boxes.

In a display of the presentation outline and the linkage paths, one ofthe Bento-boxes or a Bento-box stack may be selected to showspecifically the links to and from the selected Bento-box. In addition,the presentation outline and the goals outline may be simultaneouslydisplayed showing the relationship between the presentation outline andthe goals outline.

For example, if both the presentation outline and the goals outline aredisplayed and a Bento-box is selected in the presentation outline,corresponding nodes in the goals outline are highlighted to indicate thelink between the presentation outline and the goals outline based on thecards that are linked to both of the outlines. The highlighting of theselected Bento-boxes and the corresponding nodes of the goals outlinemay be color coded to indicate a measure of overlap in terms of thenumber of cards that are common between the selected Bento-box and thehighlighted nodes of the goals outline. The selection of a node in thegoals outline results in similar highlighting of related Bento-boxes.

If a complete presentation outline is selected, the highlighting shows ameasure of coverage between the presentation outline and the goalsoutline. That is, by selecting either the complete presentation outlineor the complete goals outline, an indication of coverage in terms of thenumber of cards linked to both the goals and the presentation outlinesas compared to the number of cards that are linked only to each of thegoals or presentation outlines.

The hypermedia authoring system also provides a navigation facilitybased on visual metaphors familiar to the author. For example, a kitchenmetaphor may be used where card databases are maintained either incabinets or the freezer compartment of a refrigerator and the cuttingboard corresponds to a display of the presentation outline. Similarmetaphors may be constructed using other familiar scenes such as anoffice or a studio.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is described with reference to the following drawingswherein like numerals represent like elements, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a relationship among a goals outline, apresentation outline, and a card database;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating card linkages;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a tree view of the goals outline;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the instantiation of documentprototypes and their links to cards;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of the document prototype;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a terminal used for document authoring;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the terminal of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 illustrates a display for the goals outline;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a browser for document prototypes;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a layout workspace;

FIG. 11 is a temporal view of the layout workspace;

FIG. 12 is of a logical view of the layout workspace;

FIG. 13 illustrates a Bento-box;

FIG. 14 illustrates a stack of Bento-boxes;

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of Bento-boxes for a slide sequence;

FIG. 16 illustrates hyperlinks in Bento-boxes;

FIG. 17 illustrates an example of a document in terms of an overview oflinked Bento-boxes;

FIG. 18 illustrates a partial document in terms of Bento-boxes and linksto and from Bento-boxes;

FIGS. 19 and 20 illustrate examples of a display of the goals outlineand the presentation outline and the relationship between the outlines;and

FIGS. 21-23 illustrate meta-level graphic user interfaces (GUI).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a hypermedia authoring system 100 that includes a goalsoutline 102, a presentation outline 104 and a card database 106. Links110 are established between the goals outline 102 and the presentationoutline 104 and each of the goals outline 102 and the presentationoutline 104 are linked to the card database 106 through links 108 and112, respectively.

The cards in the card database 106 are information elements (calledpoints) on which the document being authored is based. That is, thecards contain the actual hypermedia information such as video, sound ortext that make up the document. The contents of the points may beappropriated from either external sources or created from scratch by theauthor.

FIG. 2 shows an example set of cards 10-28 in the card database 106. Asindicated by the arrows 30-42, the cards 10-28 may be interconnected or“linked”. These links may be established as hyperlinks from a sourcecard to an anchor point in the destination card. For example, text card10 is hyperlinked to video card 18 and to sound and text card 20 vialinks 40 and 42, respectively. The anchors for the links 40 and 42 tocards 18 and 20 are global anchors because the links 40 and 42 linksfrom card 10 to all the information contained in cards 18 and 20 (i.e.,linked to the beginning of cards 18 and 20). In contrast, link 38 linkscard 18 to a specific point within card 26. Thus, the anchor point forlink 38 in card 26 is a local anchor.

Local anchors may also be placed in source cards such as shown by link34 between cards 12 and 24. Local anchors may be used as both source anddestination points such as link 30 between cards 14 and 22. All thelinks 30-42 among the cards 10-28 establish a relationship network. Thisrelationship among the cards 10-28 is established in connection with thepresentation outline 104 described later.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a goals outline 202. The goals outline maycontain a document name and an organization of subject matter of thedocument to be authored in a logical structure. The goals outline 202contains outline elements such as Main Subject 1 and Main Subject 2.Outline elements Point A and Point B are logically structured under MainSubject 1 and outline element Subpoint a is logically structured underPoint A. As indicated on the right side of FIG. 3, the outline elementsmay be visualized in a tree view such as tree view 204. The tree view204 includes nodes 206-214 which corresponds to the outline elements inthe goals outline 202.

A type is associated with each of the nodes 206-214. For example,description type is associated with nodes 206, 208 and 214, while anarrative type is associated with node 210 and an argument type isassociated with node 212. Each of these types indicates the informationthat is included in the particular portion of the goals outline. Toassist the authoring process, templates or document prototypes areprovided so that the author may easily “fill in” the requiredinformation corresponding to each of the types.

A hypermedia document may be authored in the hypermedia authoring system100 by working with the goals outline or the presentation outline in anyorder or sequence. If the author prefers to first layout the logicalstructure of the document and then focus on the document's physicalappearance, then the author completes the goals outline first and thenthe presentation outline. If the physical appearance of the document isto be addressed first, then the presentation outline may be completedbefore the goals outline. In fact, during the course of documentauthoring, a process of bouncing back and forth between the goalsoutline and the presentation outline may be most desirable.

FIG. 4 shows a process for generating the goals outline 202 byinstantiating document prototypes and linking the instantiated documentprototypes with the cards in the cards database 106. On the right sideof FIG. 4, document prototypes 302 are shown for each of the abovetypes: description 304, argument 306 and narrative 308 and other typesmay also be added. The types shown in FIG. 4 are examples. There may bemultiple kinds of document prototypes for each type of description 304,argument 306, and narrative 308. Some of these prototypes may beconstructed by the author as the authoring process progresses whileothers may be default prototypes provided to the author at the outset.

As an example, the goals outline 202 may be constructed as follows: Theauthor selects from the description document prototype 304 andinstantiates the selected prototypes to correspond to nodes 206, 208 and214 of the tree view 204. One of the narrative document prototypes 308is instantiated corresponding to node 210 and an argument documentprototype 306 is instantiated corresponding to node 212.

Once instantiated, the author may personalize each of the instantiatedprototypes by linking the prototypes to the respective cards in the carddatabase 106. For example, the instantiated description documentprototype 304 corresponding to node 206 may be linked to card 1 via link320 while the description document prototype 304 corresponding to node208 may be linked to card 2 by link 322 and the narrative documentprototype 308 corresponding to node 210 is linked to card 3 by link 324.The argument document prototype corresponding to node 212 and thedescription document prototype corresponding to node 214 are similarlylinked by links 326 and 328 to other cards in the card database.

FIG. 5 shows a possible structure for a description document prototype304. The description document prototype 304 may include a predeterminedset of subject matter or slot type 442, 444 and 446 that correspond tothe description document prototype 304. For example, slot type 442indicates that Background information should be included and slot type444 indicates that Constraint information should be included. Each ofthe slot types 442-446 may be linked to a card in the database 106. Thelink to a card may be classified by link types such as: mandatory (M),optional (O), and user defined (U). As indicated in FIG. 5, theBackground slot type 442 is mandatory as indicated by M 448 and theconstraint slot type 444 is optional as indicated by O 450 while theslot type 446 is user defined as indicated by U 452.

The document authoring system 100 provides a display to assist thecreation of a goals outline for a document. As shown in FIG. 6, aterminal 600 may be used by the hypermedia authoring system 100 toreceive inputs from the user through user input devices such as akeyboard/mouse 609 and outputs information to the user through thedisplay 605 and speakers 607.

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of the terminal 600 that includes acontroller 602, a memory 604, and a user interface 616 that interfaceswith the keyboard mouse 609, the speakers 607 and the display device605. The terminal 600 may also include dedicated processors forperforming the functions of the hypermedia authoring system 100 such asthe goals outline processes discussed above. The terminal 600 includes agoals outline processor 608, presentation outline processor 610,visualization processor 612, resource appropriation processor 614 and anavigation processor 606. These processes 606-614 perform the hypermediaauthoring system functions. All the components of the terminal 600 arecoupled together via signal bus 618.

The controller 602 may perform the functions of all the processors606-614. The controller 602 may also include a hypermedia engine toperform linking processes required to support the hypermedia authoringsystem 100. In the following discussion, the controller 602 is assumedto be separate from the processors 606-614 and performs tasks requiredto support the processors 606-614. The hypermedia engine functions maybe incorporated in any of the processors 606-614 as required.

The goals outline processor 608 processes the goals outline bydisplaying a goals outline display 400 on the display device 605 andgenerates the goals outline 102 based on user inputs received throughthe keyboard/mouse 609, for example. FIG. 8 shows the goals outlinedisplay 400 that includes a tree view area 402, a card link area 404,and a document prototype legend area 406. The tree view area 402displays the tree view 408 of the goals outline 202. Each of the nodes206-214 are represented by square boxes that are connected to arespective icon such as icon 432 corresponding to node 206. Each of theicons 432, 436, 438, 440 and 460 are coded, by color for example, basedon the document prototype that is instantiated to correspond to therespective nodes 206-214. For example, the icon 432 is colored blue asrepresented by the horizontal parallel lines; icon 438 is colored red asrepresented by the parallel vertical lines; and icon 440 is coloredgreen as represented by the parallel slanted lines. As shown in thelegend area 406, the blue color indicated in area 424 corresponds to adescription document prototype; the green color indicated in area 426corresponds to an argument prototype; and the red color indicated inarea 428 corresponds to a narrative prototype.

The nodes of the goals outline 202 may be stored as node cards in thecard database 106. The node cards include all the information associatedwith the corresponding nodes including the relationships with othergoals outline nodes.

The author may instantiate a document prototype for any node 206-214 bysimply selecting the node using the keyboard/mouse 609 and selecting adocument prototype via a prototype browser shown in FIG. 9 to bediscussed later. After instantiation, the instantiated documentprototype may be linked to cards in the card database via the card linkarea 404. For example, FIG. 8 shows that node 214 is selected asindicated by the dotted box 434. When selected, information regardingthe instantiated document prototype is displayed in the card link area404. There are four columns in the card link area 404 as follows: 1)card number 410; 2) card name 412; 3) slot type 414; and 4) link type416. Each of the entries 418-422 corresponds to a slot type 414 of thedocument prototype.

The slot types 414 of the description document prototype 304corresponding to the selected node 214 are displayed in the card linkarea 404. As shown in FIG. 8, entry 418 indicates that the first card islabeled Evidence and corresponds to the slot type Background. Asindicated by the link type “M”, the Background slot type is required tobe linked to a card. Entry 420 indicates that a second card named FolderA is linked to the slot type Constraint and that this is an optionallink as indicated by the link type “O”. Entry 422 indicates that the Nthcard named Goals OL C is linked to a User slot type which is a Userdefined link type indicated by “U”.

The author uses the display shown in FIG. 8 to explicitly link each ofthe slot types of the instantiated document prototype to a specificcard, thus connecting information content of a card to a specific goalsoutline element. By using the goals outline display 400, an authorgenerates the goals outline 202 and connects each element in the goalsoutline 202 with the hypermedia information in a logical structure.

FIG. 9 shows a browser display 500 that provides the author the abilityto browse and select a document prototype for instantiation in the goalsoutline 102. The browser display 500 has a directory display area 510and a prototype display area 508. In the directory display area 510, adirectory of document prototypes contained in a database contained inthe memory 604, for example, are displayed. If the author selects aprototype such as a recipe prototype 512, the slot types of the recipeprototype 512 are displayed in the prototype display area 508.

The prototype display area 508 includes four columns: prototypes 502,slot name 504, link 506 and inherit 518. The slot names corresponding tothe selected document prototype are listed under the slot name column504. For example, for the recipe document prototype 512 the slot namesare Introduction, Process, A→B→C . . . , and Historical. Correspondingto each of the slot names, the prototype display area 508 suggests adocument prototype for further expanding the subject matter of thecorresponding slot type in greater detail. For example, the Descriptiondocument prototype is suggested for further expansion of theIntroduction and Process slot names. The Argument document prototype issuggested for further expanding the A→B→E C . . . slot name and theNarrative document prototype is suggested for further expanding theHistorical slot name.

The link column 506 indicates the type of links to cards thatcorresponds to the slot names. For example, links to cards correspondingto Introduction and Process slot names are mandatory while links tocards corresponding to A→B→C . . . and Historical slot names areoptional links.

The inherit column 518 indicates whether the link type for each slotname is inherited from a higher level document prototype. Becausedocument prototypes may be recursively defined (i.e., a documentprototype being defined by other document prototypes), the link types ofhigher level document prototypes may either be applied to the lowerlevel document prototypes such as indicated by the symbol 514corresponding to the Process slot name or be overwritten by the lowerlevel document prototype as indicate by the symbol 516 corresponding tothe Historical slot name. Thus, the browser display 500 provides theauthor complete flexibility in defining document prototypes and whenused in conjunction with the goals outline display 400 as shown in FIG.8, and each of the instantiated document prototypes may be linked to acard in the card database 106.

The presentation outline processor 610, as shown in FIG. 7, providessupport for the author to generate a presentation outline 104 for thephysical appearance of the document. FIG. 10 shows a layout workspace700 where the author may generate a physical appearance of the documentspatially as well as temporally by placing spacer objects in a spatiallayout area 702 and spacer objects in a sound layout area 704. Forexample, the author may place visual spacer objects 706-712 and soundspacer objects 714, 716 and 718 as shown in FIG. 10.

Each of the spacer objects may be time sequenced using a temporal view810 of the layout workspace 700 as shown in FIG. 11. For example, image708 may be temporally spaced by placing cut 1, cut 2 and cut 3 of theimage 708 in the respective temporal positions. Similarly for thecaption 710, video 706, sound 714 and Graphical User Interface (GUI)712. In addition, the spacer objects may also be displayed in a logicalformat 820 as shown in FIG. 12.

The spacer objects 706-718 in the layout workspace 700 are linked tocorresponding cards by using a Bento-box 800 (which may be a card) whichinclude the layout workspace as shown in FIG. 13. A card link area 804shows the cards that are linked to corresponding spacer objects 706-718.For example, the caption spacer object 710 is highlighted as indicatedby the dotted box 802 and the corresponding card C is also highlightedas indicated by the dotted box 803. If a spacer object 706-718 is linkedto more than one card, then all the cards linked to the selected spacerobject are highlighted.

In addition to the card link area 804, the Bento-box 800 also includes arelated goals outline area 806 that shows related goals outline nodes.The related goals outline nodes are goals outline nodes that are linkedto cards which are also linked to spacer objects in the Bento-box 800.In addition, icons indicating the types of the related goals outlinenodes are shown in the area 805. Thus, Goals OL E is a description type;Goals OL J is a narrative type; and Goals OL B is an argument type basedon the legend shown in the legend area 406 of FIG. 8. The Bento-box 800provides a method for linking the presentation outline to the cards inthe card database 106 which indirectly also links the presentationoutline 104 with the goals outline 102 as indicated by the related goalsoutline area 806.

FIG. 14 shows a stack of Bento-boxes 830, 840 and 850. Bento-box 830titled Bento 1 is displayed first and then Bento-box 840 titled Bento 2is displayed second and then Bento-box 850 titled Bento 3 is displayedthird. Thus, the Bento-boxes 830, 840 and 850 are linked to each otherin a stack to indicate a serial presentation of the informationcontained in each of the Bento-boxes 830, 840 and 850. A Bento-box stackmay be given titles so that each of the Bento-box stacks may bereferenced as a whole when linked to other Bento-boxes or Bento-boxstacks. For example, FIG. 15 shows such a sequence of Bento-boxes slide#1 902, slide #2 904 and slide #3 906. These Bento-boxes 902-906 arearranged sequentially in a stack so that Bento-boxes 902, 904 and 906are presented in sequential order as a slide presentation.

Bento-boxes 800 and Bento-box stacks may also be linked in other mannerssuch as shown in FIGS. 16. In FIG.16, Bento-box 1010 is linked toBento-box 1012 sequentially as described earlier but also a spacerobject in the Bento-box 1010 may be hyperlinked to a Bento-box 1018which in turn is hyperlinked to Bento-box 1024. Thus, when the Bento-box1010 is being presented and the portion hyperlinked to Bento-box 1018 isencountered, the author or a reader of the authored document may selectthe hyperlink by using the keyboard/mouse 609 to begin presentation ofthe contents of Bento-box 1018. This process may continue from hyperlinkto hyperlink to trace out a complete path established by the hyperlinks.Thus, as shown in the bottom of FIG. 16, Bento-box stacks 1002, 1004 and1006 are hyperlinked to each other as indicated by the arrows.

Aside from the hyperlinks, Bento-boxes and Bento-box stacks may belinked as individual entities, as shown in FIG. 17. The Visualizationprocessor 612 displays Bento-boxes 800, Bento-box stacks and theconnecting links such as links and hyperlinks discussed above. FIG. 17shows an example of a overview of all the Bento-boxes 1100-1116 in anauthored document so that a comprehensive understanding may be obtainedregarding the physical appearance of the document. Also, the overviewshows unconnected Bento-boxes such as Bento-boxes 1114 and 1116.

When a single Bento-box 800 or a Bento-box stack is selected, a partialview of the document is provided as shown in FIG. 18. In particular,FIG. 18 shows the links to and from the Bento-box 1200.

The visualization processor 612 also provides displays that show arelationship between the goals outline 102 and the presentation outline104, as shown in FIGS. 19 and 20. FIG. 19 shows a Bento-box link display1302 and a goals outline display 1304. The Bento-box link display 1302indicates that Bento-box stack 1320 is selected. Thus, all the linksfrom other Bento-boxes to and from the Bento-box 1302 are also shown.

When a Bento-box stack is selected such as Bento-box stack 1320, thenodes of the goals outline that are related to the selected Bento-boxstack 1320 are highlighted based on a color code, for example. A legend1306 for such a code may also be displayed as in FIG. 19. A relationshipcriteria may be defined by the author based on formulas such as a ratioof the number of cards assigned to the selected Bento-box stack orBento-box divided by the total number of cards assigned to a singlegoals outline node. Thus, under this criteria and based on the legend1306, node 1308 of the goals outline shown in FIG. 19 has a greaterratio than node 1312.

If all the Bento-boxes of the authored document are selected, then thedisplay corresponding to FIG. 19 shows a completeness measure where thenumber of cards linked to the Bento-boxes are compared to the number ofcards linked to the goals outline. Thus, the author is provided anassessment of the progress of the authoring process and thecomprehensiveness of the relationship between the goals outline and thepresentation outline. This feature provides the author with an indicatorof how close the document authoring process is to completion.

FIG. 20 shows the converse of the situation shown in FIG. 19. In FIG.20, a node of the goals outline 102 is selected such as goals outlinenode 1408, and the corresponding Bento-boxes 800 in the presentationoutline is also highlighted, for example Bento-box 1412. A ratio may becalculated to relate the number of cards linked to the selected goalsoutline node in the highlighted corresponding Bento-boxes 1412. Thus,the progress of the document authoring process may be assessed and therelationship between the goals outline and the presentation outline maybe obtained.

The resource appropriation processor 614 of the terminal 600 processesinformation received from sources external to the terminal 600. Forexample, if a new video clip is to be included as part of the documentbeing authored, the resource appropriation processor 614 processes thevideo clip by either placing the complete video clip into a card orseparating selected frames of the video clip and creating cards for eachframe, for example. In addition, the soundtrack of the video clip may bealso separated into a separate card and placed into the card database106 together with the other created cards. During either goals outlinegeneration or presentation outline generation, the author may link thenew cards with a spacer object or a slot type corresponding to aninstantiated document prototype.

If information to be imported into the terminal 600 are alreadystructured as cards, then the resource appropriation processor simplyimports the additional cards and stores the imported cards in the carddatabase 106 so that the cards may be linked through either the goalsoutline 102 or the presentation outline 104.

The navigation processor 606 of the terminal 600 provides a navigationfacility to assist the author with a familiar meta-level GUI such as akitchen, an office or a studio, to navigate through the large amount ofmedia data in relationship to the goals and presentation outlines 102and 104.

FIG. 21 shows a display of a kitchen 1500 as the meta-level GUI. The“Recipes” 1504 or 1506 on the corkboard 1502 displays the goals outline102 (i.e. logical structures). The cutting board 1508 displays thepresentation outline. The Bento-boxes 1510 and 1512 are shown on thecutting board 1508. In addition, the refrigerator 1514 and the cabinets1516 and 1518 show other possible spaces and organizers for media data.

Similarly, FIG. 22 shows a display of an office 1600 as the meta-levelGUI. The planning board 1602 displays the goals outline 102 and the deskmat 1604 displays the presentation outline 104. The filing cabinet 1606stores and organizes the media data in the form of cards, for example.

FIG. 23 shows a display of a studio 1700 as the meta-level GUI. Thestory board 1702 displays the goals outline 102, the mixer consoles 1704displays the presentation outline 104. The file cabinet 1706 or thecorkboard 1708 stores and organizes the media data.

While this invention has been described in conjunction with specificembodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modificationsand variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.Accordingly, preferred embodiments of the invention as set forth hereinare intended to be illustrative not limiting. Various changes may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A document authoring device, comprising: a userinterface; a memory; a controller coupled to the user interface and thememory, wherein the controller links a goals outline and a presentationoutline together based on an input received through the user interfaceand data stored in the memory, wherein the user interface includes adisplay device, the controller displaying a goals outline display on thedisplay device and generating the goals outline based on the input thatrelates to the goals outline display; the memory contains at least onedocument prototype, the controller generating a logical structure of thegoals outline by instantiating the document prototype selected by theinput; and wherein the document prototype is a template that includes:at least one slot type, the slot type having a name that indicates acontent corresponding to the slot type; and a link type corresponding tothe slot type, the link type specifying that the slot type is linked toa card, the link type being one of mandatory, optional, and userdefined.
 2. A document authoring device, comprising: a user interface: amemory; a controller coupled to the user interface and the memory,wherein the controller links a goals outline and a presentation outlinetogether based on an input received through the user interface and datastored in the memory, wherein the user interface includes a displaydevice, the controller displaying a goals outline display on the displaydevice and generating the goals outline based on the input that relatesto the goals outline display; the memory contains at least one documentprototype, the controller generating a logical structure of the goalsoutline by instantiating the document prototype selected by the input:wherein the document prototype is a template that includes: at least oneslot type, the slot type having a name that indicates a contentcorresponding to the slot type; and a link type corresponding to theslot type, the link type specifying that the slot type is linked to acard, the link type being one of mandatory, optional, and user defined;wherein the controller displays a directory of document prototypes and astructure of a document prototype selected from the directory, thestructure including a matrix of values, wherein each row of the matrixincludes at least four columns, each of the columns including valuesthat correspond to an inherit flag, a link type, a slot name and adocument prototype name.
 3. A document authoring device, comprising: auser interface; a memory; and a controller coupled to the user interfaceand the memory, wherein the controller links a goals outline and apresentation outline together based on an input received through theuser interface and data stored in the memory; wherein the user interfaceincludes a display device, the controller displaying a goals outlinedisplay on the display device and generating the goals outline based onthe input that relates to the goals outline display; the memory containsat least one document prototype the controller generating a logicalstructure of the goals outline by instantiating the document prototypeselected by the input; and the controller receives external informationand generates an imported card based on the external information andlinks the imported card to the goals outline based on the input.
 4. Thedevice of claim 3, wherein the external information is in a desired cardstructure, the controller incorporating the card structure in the goalsoutline when linking the imported card to the goals outline.
 5. Thedevice of claim 3, wherein the external information is not in a desiredcard structure, the controller translating the external information intoa desired card structure and incorporating the card structure in thegoals outline when linking the imported card to the goals outline.
 6. Adocument authoring device comprising: a user interface; a memory; and acontroller coupled to the user interface and the memory wherein thecontroller links a goals outline and a presentation outline togetherbased on an input received through the user interface and data stored inthe memory, and wherein the user interface includes a display device,the controller displaying the presentation outline on the display deviceas at least one Bento box.
 7. The device of claim 6, wherein theBento-box includes at least one spacer object, the spacer object beingstructured in the Bento-box in at least one of logically, spatially andtemporally.
 8. The device of claim 7, wherein the spacer object islinked to a card.
 9. The device of claim 8, wherein the controllerreceives external information and generates an imported card based onthe external information and links the imported card to the spacerobject based on the input.
 10. The device of claim 9, wherein theexternal information is in a desired card structure, the controllerincorporating the card structure in the spacer object when linking theimported card to the spacer object.
 11. The device of claim 9, whereinthe external information is not in a desired card structure, thecontroller translating the external information into a desired cardstructure and incorporating the card structure in the spacer object whenlinking the imported card to the spacer object.
 12. The device of claim6, wherein the Bento-box is related to another Bento-box at least one ofsequentially and in a hyperlinked manner.
 13. The device of claim 6,wherein the controller generates a Bento-box display of a plurality ofBento-boxes and at least one link among the Bento-boxes.
 14. The deviceof claim 13, wherein the controller displays the goals outline displayand the presentation outline as linked Bento-boxes, when a node of thegoals outline is selected, at least one corresponding Bento-box in thepresentation outline being highlighted, when a Bento-box in thepresentation outline is selected, at least one corresponding node of thegoals outline being highlighted.
 15. The device of claim 14, wherein thecontroller generates a measure of completion based on parametersspecified by the input.
 16. The device of claim 15, wherein theparameters include a first number of cards linked to a selectedBento-box and a second number of cards linked to a node of the goalsoutline, the measure of completeness being a ratio of the second overthe first numbers of cards.
 17. The device of claim 16, wherein theparameters include a third number of cards linked to a selected node ofthe goals outline and a fourth number of cards linked to a Bento-box,the measure of completeness being a ratio of the fourth over the thirdnumbers of cards.
 18. The device of claim 16, wherein the controllerdisplays the ratio when displaying at least one of the Bento-box displayand the goals outline display.
 19. The device of claim 13, wherein aportion of the Bento-boxes are linked sequentially into a Bento-boxstack, a plurality of Bento-box stacks being linked to each other.
 20. Adocument authoring device, comprising: a user interface; a memory; and acontroller coupled to the user interface and the memory, wherein thecontroller links a goals outline and a presentation outline togetherbased on an input received through the user interface and data stored inthe memory, wherein the controller comprises a hypermedia link engine,the hypermedia link engine performing the linking between at least oneof cards, Bento boxes and Bento box stacks.
 21. A document authoringdevice, comprising: a user interface; a memory; and a controller coupledto the user interface and the memory, wherein the controller links agoals outline and a presentation outline together based on an inputreceived through the user interface and data stored in the memory,wherein the user interface includes a display device, the controllerdisplaying on the display device a meta-level display of the goalsoutline and the presentation outline.
 22. A method of authoring adocument, comprising: storing data in a memory; receiving inputs througha user interface; linking a goals outline to a presentation outlinebased on the and the data; receiving external information by thecontroller; generating a card based on the external information; storingthe card as data in the memory; displaying the presentation outline onthe display device as at least one Bento box; and structuring a spacerobject in the Bento box in at least one of logically, spatially andtemporally.
 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising: linking thespacer object to a card.
 24. The method of claim 22, further comprising:relating one Bento-box to another Bento-box at least one of sequentiallyand in a hyperlinked manner.
 25. The method of claim 22, furthercomprising: generating a Bento-box display of a plurality of Bento-boxesand at least one link among the Bento-boxes.
 26. The method of claim 22,further comprising: generating displays of the goals outline and thepresentation outline, the presentation outline being displayed as linkedBento-boxes, when a node of the goals outline is selected, at least onecorresponding Bento-box in the presentation outline being highlighted,when a Bento-box in the presentation outline is selected, at least onecorresponding node of the goals outline being highlighted.
 27. Themethod of claim 26, further comprising: generating a measure ofcompleteness based on parameters specified by the input.
 28. The methodof claim 27, wherein the parameters include a first number of cardslinked to a selected Bento-box and a second number of cards linked to anode of the goals outline, the measure of completeness being a ratio ofthe second over the first numbers of cards.
 29. The method of claim 28,further comprising: displaying the ratio when displaying at least one ofthe presentation outline and the goals outline.
 30. The method of claim27, wherein the parameters include a third number of cards linked to aselected node of the goals outline and a fourth number of cards linkedto a Bento-box, the measure of completeness being a ratio of the fourthover the third numbers of cards.